NEW RULES ON ORGAN DONATION
My Weekly’s favourite GP Dr Sarah Jarvis from TV and radio writes for you
From last year, England moved to an “opt out” system for organ donation. Instead of having to sign up and opt in to be an organ donor, it’s assumed you’re happy to donate your organs (as 4 in 5 people are) unless you say otherwise. From later this month, the same system will come into force in Scotland. This is clearly great news for the 3,000 or so people on the “active transplant list” at any one time, whose lives depend on getting an organ.
Opt out makes perfect sense – with an opt in system, lots of people want to donate their organs but don’t get round to signing up. Wales has had an opt out system since 2015 and they have the highest consent rate in the UK. You can still opt out at any ti me, and I’ve been c ampaigning for this c hange for 20 years. Organs O are desperately needed n – each year, about a 400 people on the t active transplant l ist sadly die or become so unwell they’re no longer suitable for transplant.
If you’re one of the 80% of people keen to give the ultimate gift of life, you might think you don’t need to do anything now there’s an opt out system. You’d be wrong, but you’d be in good company, since 3 in 5 people have never spoken to their nearest and dearest about their wishes and of those, 1 in 4 thought they didn’t need to tell anyone. Another 1 in 3 said the subject had just never come up and 1 in 5 meant to talk about it but just hadn’t got round to it.
The reason it’s so key to talk to your family about your wishes for organ donation is that even with an opt out system, the family will always be involved before organ donation goes ahead. And while 9 in 10 families say they would support organ donation if they knew what their loved one wanted, this figure falls to around half if they didn’t know what they wanted.
Of course, for most of us, the situation never arises – only about 1% of people die in circumstances where organ donation might be possible. But for the sake of a brief chat, you could avoid your family being put through added uncertainty, wanting to abide by your wishes but not knowing what they are.
Organ transplant units have worked incredibly hard to make sure they’re safe during Covid-19. For some people on the transplant list, time is running out, so we have to keep donations going.
That’s why NHS Blood and Transplant have launched a new campaign in England, urging people to talk to their families and “Leave Them Certain” about their wishes. Why not use this article as a prompt to have the conversation yourself? My top tips to make it happen include:
Pick a time when you’re not under time pressure and there aren’t any distractions. If you live with your family, find a time when you’re having a relaxed cup of tea or are out for a walk together. If it’s on the phone, check in first with a “How are you doing?” so you’ll know it’s not a bad time.
Open up the conversation with a question or comment about this article or the campaign. For instance, “I was reading an article in My Weekly about organ donation recently. Did you know…?”
EVEN WITH AN OPT OUT SYSTEM FOR ORGAN DONATION, YOU CAN OPT OUT AT ANY TIME IF YOU DON’T WANT TO DONATE YOUR ORGANS.
If faith is important to either or both of you, you could start the conversation by talking about what you know about your faith’s beliefs on giving.
Make it clear that you know some people find it a difficult subject to talk about and that you don’t have to have the same opinion.
If you want to give your family added reassurance about your wishes, you can register your decision at WWW.ORGANDONATION.NHS.UK. If you don’t have internet access, call 0300 123 23 23.
If, for instance, you’re happy to donate some but not all of your organs, you can use the same website or phone number to let NHS Blood and Transplant know.
Your wishes will always be respected.
NEXT WEEK: Worried you might be drinking too much?